The Game: Johns Hopkins (9-1) makes the northwest trip to the Pittsburgh area to take on unbeaten Washington & Jefferson (10-0) in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs. Kickoff is set for high noon.

A Look Back: Johns Hopkins jumped to a 49-7 halftime lead and never looked back in a 56-21 victory at McDaniel last Saturday. W&J had an equally impressive showing as the Presidents jumped to a 42-0 halftime lead and defeated Waynesburg by that same score.

Poll Position: Johns Hopkins ranks 19th in this week's AFCA Poll and 21st in the D3football.com Poll. Washington & Jefferson is 10th in the AFCA Poll and 14th in the D3football.com Poll.

How They Got Here: Johns Hopkins earned the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs, while Washington & Jefferson grabbed the AQ from the Presidents' Athletic Conference.
Ironically, both teams ended the regular season tied for their league title, but earned the AQ by tie-breaker. JHU tied F&M at 8-1 in league play, but earned the bid due to a head-to-head win against the Diplomats. The Presidents finished in a tie with Case Western and the two teams didn't play during the regular season, but W&J got the AQ based on the league tie-breaker as well.

Playoff Bound: Johns Hopkins is making its seventh straight trip to the NCAAs, eighth in nine years and ninth overall. All nine appearances have come since 2005.

A Baker's Dozen: Johns Hopkins earned its 13th Centennial Conference title this season. The 13 titles are the most in league history and all 13 have come since 2002 (a span of 16 seasons). Even more impressive? Hopkins was the last team in the league to win its first title (2002), but the first to get to 10 championships.

What's Next: The winner of the Johns Hopkins-Washington & Jefferson first round game will play the winner of the first round game between Frostburg St. and Wittenberg. That second round game will be played at a site to be determined on Saturday, November 25.

61 Under to 61 Over: Johns Hopkins head coach Jim Margraff inherited a program with an all-time record that was 61 games UNDER .500 when he arrived (334-395-56). With the win against Juniata on November 4, Johns Hopkins moved its all-time record to 61 games OVER .500 - including last week's win at McDaniel, JHU improved to 543-481-59.

299 and Counting: This week's game at Washington & Jefferson will be the 299th for Jim Margraff as the head coach at Johns Hopkins. He is 209-86-3 (.706) since taking over prior to the 1990 season.

199 and Counting: This week's game at Washington & Jefferson will be the 199th for Johns Hopkins since the turn of the century. JHU is 154-44 (.778) in the 18 seasons since we moved from the "19s" to the "20s".

Blue Jay Offense Among National Leaders: The Johns Hopkins offense ranks among the top 20 in the nation in several categories as the Blue Jays rank seventh in passing yards per game (329.8), fifth in total offense (513.7) and 18th in scoring (40.6). The Blue Jays also rank fourth in total first downs (256) and JHU is one of just two teams in the nation averaging more than 325 yards per game passing and 175 yards per game rushing (Lakeland).

Record-Breading Day at McDaniel: The Johns Hopkins offense set three single-game records in the win at McDaniel as the Blue Jays set marks for most points in half (49 • 1st), most points in a quarter (35 • 2nd) and most yards in a half (447 • 1st).

Sack Masters: The Johns Hopkins defense recorded four sacks against Gettysburg, one game after totaling nine sacks in the 45-7 win against F&M - the Blue Jays then added five more in the 31-24 win at Muhlenberg, four against Juniata and three at McDaniel to push their season total to a Centennial-leading 39 in 10 games. The nine sacks JHU posted against F&M are the most for the Blue Jays since a nine-sack effort against Susquehanna in 2013. Earlier this season the Blue Jays had eight sacks in a win against Susquehanna and JHU now ranks sixth in the nation in sacks per game (3.9).
In all, 15 different players have been in on at least one sack this season with sophomore Mike Kalanik (9.0) and senior Lance Hammond (5.0) at the top of the team's sack chart.

Did You Know ...
• The 52 touchdowns JHU has scored this year are the seventh-best total in school history. The Blue Jays have scored at least 50 touchdowns in each of the last eight years ... they had never done it before 2010.
• JHU is averaging 6.23 yards per play this season. The JHU record for yards per play for an entire season is 6.65 in 2015.
• The 39 sacks the JHU defense has accumulated this season are its most since 2012, when the Blue Jays also had 39. • Johns Hopkins has outscored the opposition 240-69 in the first half through 10 games.
• The 113 points the Blue Jays scored in the last two games are tied for the third-most in back-to-back games in school history.